Kevin O'Reilly

Thanks to the Minister for that response, and I might have to follow up with a different Minister about the status of the Bathurst herd. Later today I'm going to be tabling the comment letter submitted by Department of Lands to the Nunavut Impact Review Board on the Grays Bay Port and Road Project. Several other letters were submitted by the NWT Indigenous governments and they have expressed very serious concerns/reservations about this Grays Bay Port and Road Project because it will cut through the remaining calving grounds of the Bathurst caribou herd. What is the position of our government...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I, too, would like to recognize my friend Wendy Bisaro, who served this House and also served as city councillor, and thank you for her years of public service. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I wish to table the following document. It is a letter dated September 12th, 2017, from the Department of Lands, Government of the Northwest Territories to the Nunavut Impact Review Board, regarding the Grays Bay Road and Port Project proposal. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks to the Minister for that response. Several of the Indigenous governments have actually asked that the project be stopped or delayed given the condition of the Bathurst caribou herd, but our government is prepared to support it. This project is going to involve use of winter roads on our side of the boundary, and as the Minister said there are going to be transboundary, environmental, and socioeconomic impacts. I would like the Minister to explain why our government did not call for a full federal panel review under Part 6 of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement for the Grays Bay Port and...

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Lands in his capacity for coordinating GNWT input into environmental assessments such as the Grays Bay Port and Road Project in Nunavut. What is the GNWT understanding of the status of the Bathurst caribou herd, and how does that influence our input into environmental assessments? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. It is time for another statement on "What I Did for My Summer Holidays," or "Yellowknife Rocks."

Committee work began almost immediately after the last sitting ended on June 2nd. I also travelled to Inuvik for the Alternative Energy and Emerging Technologies conference, June 14th to the 16th, and I attended the Dehcho and Tlicho assemblies. The never-ending work on the Rules and Procedures Committee on our review of several reports of election matters continued over the summer.

In August, my wife and I travelled to the Yukon and Alaska, where tourism is really...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I'm pleased to recommend the Health Statutes Amendment Act, Cremation Services, Bill 30, for the consideration of this Assembly. This is a private Member's bill which proposes amendments to the Public Health Act and to the Vital Statistics Act. All Canadian jurisdictions except the Northwest Territories and Nunavut have legislation for cremation. The private Member's bill does not seek to create new powers with respect to cremation. It does not create any new regulatory structure to govern the performance of cremation. Above all, the private Member's bill does not...

Merci, Monsieur le President. For my second question, my questions are for the Premier. Members of Cabinet and their support staff travelled to Ottawa in November 2016 for intergovernmental meetings and parliamentary presentations. In his January 31, 2017 reply to my written question, the Premier said that "there were no lobbyists or consultants engaged in the planning or coordination of this trip." Can the Premier explain why we pay the lobbyist firm Earnscliffe Strategy Group more than $120,000 per year to provide "media and government relations and communications" services in Ottawa, but...

Merci, Monsieur le President. Thanks to the Minister for that response. Of course, I have expressed in this House my view that I think the appointments should be made by the Minister himself rather than a deputy minister, but when those names are finalized, is there a commitment from the Minister to release them publicly and make them available to the Members on this side as well? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks to the Minister for that response. A few more questions about the Yellowknife Airport Evolution statement that he made earlier today. I know I had asked previously whether the terms of reference for the Economic Advisory Committee were public, and now there are two more committees, an Airline Consultative Committee and an Airline Operating Committee. I am kind of confused here, but are there terms of reference for each of these, and can the Minister provide them to this side and make them public?